Pages

17 Dec 2013

Press Conference by Union Home Minister

Following is the text of the opening statement of Union Home Minister Shri Sushilkumar Shinde at the Monthly Press Conference of the Ministry of Home Affairs here today:-

“National Security Council (NSC) Meeting on ‘Border Infrastructure and Management’ was held under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister on November 01, 2013. The issues relating to Border Infrastructure and border management were discussed in the meeting.

I inaugurated the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Agartala (Tripura) on November 17, 2013.

On November 28, 2013, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was given sanction for filing the Charge Sheet against 10 persons accused in the crime relating to systematically and illegally transfer of funding by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen from across the border through Hawala channel in the garb of Jammu Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust (JKART) and distributing the same for fostering terrorist activities and also to the orphans and widows of killed Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists. The funding was also being used to boost their morale and attract fresh recruits.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has conveyed its approval for the construction of Modern Firing Range at the National Police Academy, Hyderabad and Rs. 3.19 crores were released for the purpose on November 26, 2013.

The Assembly Elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram were completed peacefully. The Elections in the LWE affected State of Chhattisgarh were, by and large, peaceful. The polling turnout figures were 70% in 1st phase, 74.75% in 2nd phase in the State of Chhattisgarh. The elections in the States of Mizoram and Madhya Pradesh were also peaceful. The polling turnout figures for the States of Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram were 70% and 81% respectively.

An amount of Rs.13.45 crore was sanctioned to the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) for acquisition of 146.34 acres land and Rs.291.25 crore were sanctioned to CAPFs for construction of office/residential buildings.

Out of the total allocation of Rs.1847 crore for 2013-14 for the Scheme for Modernization of State Police Forces, an amount of Rs.193.14 crore was released during November, 2013 to Ordinance Factory Boards (Rs 2.52 crore) for supply of arms and ammunitions and to 8 different State Governments (Rs. 190.62 crore) for construction activities and purchasing vehicles/communication equipments etc.

A Jatha of Sikh pilgrims was sent to visit Gurdwaras in Pakistan from November 15-24, 2013 on the occasion of Birthday of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

A Notification was issued on November 04, 2013 declaring entire State of Assam and 20 kms. belt in the State of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya bordering Assam as ‘disturbed area’ under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (28 of 1958) for a further period of one year beyond November 3, 2013.

On November 13, 2013 the Meitei Extremist organizations consisting of Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) and its political wing, the Revolutionary Peoples’ Front (RPF), the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), the Peoples’ Revolutionary Party of Kngleipak (PREPAK) and its armed wing, the “Red Army”, the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and its armed wing, also called the ” Red Army”, the Kanglei Yaol Kanba Lup (KYKL), CorCom (conglomerate of six valley-based UD outfits) and the Manipur Peoples’ Liberation Front (MPLF) along with all their factions, wings and front organizations was declared as ‘Unlawful Associations’ under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

In the meeting of Joint Working Group held with National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Ranjan Daimary) NDFB (RD) Group on November 29, 2013 Guwahati, a tripartite Suspension of Operations (SoO) Agreement has been signed among the Central Government, Government of Assam and NDFB(RD). As per the SoO Agreement, the outfit will deposit all its arms with the Government.

Tripartite Meeting involving the representative of the Government of India, the Government of Assam and six Adivasi outfits active in Assam was held on November 30, 2013 at Guwahati to discuss their demands.

Tripartite Meeting involving the representative of the Government of India, the Government of Assam and three Kuki outfits active in Assam was held on November 30, 2013 at Guwahati to discuss their demands.

Tripartite Meeting involving the representative of the Government of India, the Government of Assam and the Hmar People’s Convention (D) outfits active in Assam was held on November 30, 2013 at Guwahati to discuss their demands.

Under the Special Industry Initiative Scheme for Jammu and Kashmir, known as UDAAN, the Project Approval Committee, in its meeting held on November 01, 2013, approved the proposals of the Indian Overseas Bank to train 100 candidates in banking services, Genpact to train 1000 candidates (in five years) in analytical methodologies and finance/ accounting and McGraw-Hill to train 10 candidates (in five years) in education and skill development were approved.

Warnings regarding the severe cyclonic storm ‘HELEN’, which crossed the land near Machilipatnam in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh on November 22, 2013 were given to the Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Coast Guard were alerted and 11 teams of NDRF were also deployed.

All precautionary measures were taken in connection with preparedness with regard to the very severe cyclone ‘LEHAR’, which had its landfall on November 28, 2013 at Machilipattnam in Andhra Pradesh. 31 teams of NDRF were deployed in coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry. Union Home Secretary also took meetings of National Executive Committee on November 27-28, 2013 and reviewed the preparedness.

The 7th Meeting of the Empowered Committee on Border Infrastructure was held on November 26, 2013 under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary to review the implementation of Border Infrastructure Projects and to fast track of execution of Border infrastructure works.

High Level Empowered Committee Meeting was held on November 12, 2013 under the Chairmanship of Union Home Secretary, in which the estimates for the Border Infrastructure Projects were discussed for approval.

An amount of Rs. 3139.79 lakhs was released on November 21, 2013 to the Governments of Bihar and Chhattisgarh under the Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS) for upgradation/critical gap filling of Special Forces during 2013-14 for effectively combating the LWE.

An amount of Rs.17.11 crore and Rs. 0.38 crore under SRE was reimbursed to the Government of Jammu & Kashmir and the Government of Himachal Pradesh on November 19, 2013 and November 21, 2013 respectively.

The law and order situation in Andhra Pradesh, in the context of Telangana agitation was reviewed and the deployment of 95 Companies of CAPFs (RAF-04, CRPF-50, BSF-33 & CISF-08) additionally deployed for law and order was extended upto December 31, 2013 for maintaining law and order in the State.

On November 28, 2013 Government of Israel Delegation led by Mr. Amir Kain, Director, Ministry of Defence held a meeting with Government of India Delegation led by Additional Secretary (NM) and discussed bilateral security matters.

Integrated Online Visa Application System (C-Visa) has been operationalized in the Indian Missions at port city of Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Zanzibar, (Tanzania), Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania). This facility is now operational at 130 Indian Missions abroad.

The Maharashtra Ground Water (Development and Management) Bill, 2009 and the Karnataka Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic offenders and Slum- Grabbers (Amendment) Bill, 2009 was assented to by the President of India during the month of November 2013.

The Group of Ministers (GoM) in its meeting held on November 21, 2013 considered the 5th Report of the 2nd ARC titled “Public Order: Justice for each. Peace for all”. The recommendation of the GoM will now be submitted to the Competent Authority.

Against a total outlay of Rs. 990 crore earmarked in the budget of 2012-13 under Border Area Development Programme (BADP), an amount of Rs. 498.20 crore (50.32% of the total allocation) has been released to the States upto November, 2013.

During the period from November 01, 2013 to November 30, 2013 the Narcotics Control Bureau seized 2.17 kg of heroin, 25.4 kg of pseudo-ephedrine tablets, 10.9 kg of Methamphetamine, 3.09 kg of Ephedrine, 12.7 kg. of Hashish, 769.04 kg of Ganja, 852 Nos. of Bottles of Phensidyl, 15.76 kg (41200 Nos.) of capsules of Dexrtropropoxyphene and 36000 Nos. of Injections of Fortwin. The combined conservative value of the seized drug was Rs.2.14 crores (approx). Narcotics Control Bureau destroyed 334 acres of illicit cannabis cultivation in the State of Odisha.

The Capture of biometrics, using UIDAI enrolment software, is in progress. As on date, biometrics has been captured for more than 20.6 crore persons, adding 0.9 crore persons during the month. The Data Entry has been completed for more than 117.68 crore persons. “